Systems and methods for processing, securing, and communicating industrial commerce transactions

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program products related to a digital business management system for business transactions are provided. In an example embodiment, the digital business management system includes receiving a transaction data object generated as a part of a transaction event executed via an external commerce channel to be posted to a ledger, wherein the transaction data object comprises one or more metadata tags classifying the transaction event. The system further comprises generating an immutable ledger entry, parsing the transaction data object to identify the one or more metadata tags for storage in association with the transaction event, identifying a match between the one or more metadata tags received from the external commerce channel and one or more master metadata tags stored in the ledger and associated with a data object profile, and updating the data object profile by associating the immutable ledger entry with the data object profile.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/838,482 filed Apr. 25, 2019, which is hereby incorporated herein inits entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

Industrial commerce Business to Business (B2B) interactions relate totransactions conducted between business entities, rather than between abusiness and individual consumer. Examples of industrial commerce B2Binteractions include sales, marketing, purchase order, shipping,payment, vendor relationships, manufacturer and wholesalerrelationships, wholesaler and retailer relationships. Accordingly,industrial commerce B2B is a business model that focuses on sellingproducts and/or services to other business entities in the business toconsumer chain. Inherent characteristics of industrial commerce B2Btransactional relationships often frustrates seller marketing efforts toattract new customers in an industrial commerce B2B transactionenvironment, and therefore technological improvements are constantlyneeded to address the changing needs of B2B systems.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to computerimplemented methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer program productsfor providing product tracking and product transaction verification, viaa distributed product ledger within an industrial commerce B2Benvironment. In accordance with one aspect, a method is provided. In oneembodiment, the method comprises receiving, at a hub and via acommunication application program interface, a transaction data objectgenerated as a part of a transaction event executed via an externalcommerce channel of one or more external commerce channels to be postedto a ledger, wherein the transaction data object comprises one or moremetadata tags classifying the transaction event. The method furthercomprises generating an immutable ledger entry based at least in part onthe transaction data object, parsing the transaction data object toidentify the one or more metadata tags for storage in association withthe transaction event, identifying a match between the one or moremetadata tags received from the external commerce channel and one ormore master metadata tags stored in the ledger and associated with adata object profile, and updating the data object profile associatedwith the one or more master metadata tags at least in part byassociating the immutable ledger entry with the data object profile.

In accordance with another aspect, a computer program product isprovided. The computer program product may comprise non-transitorycomputer readable medium having computer program instructions storedtherein, the computer program instructions when executed by a processor,cause the processor to receive, at a hub and via a communicationapplication program interface, a transaction data object generated as apart of a transaction event executed via an external commerce channel ofone or more external commerce channels to be posted to a ledger, whereinthe transaction data object comprises one or more metadata tagsclassifying the transaction event. The computer program instructionswhen executed by a processor, further cause the processor to generate animmutable ledger entry based at least in part on the transaction dataobject, parse the transaction data object to identify the one or moremetadata tags for storage in association with the transaction event,identify a match between the one or more metadata tags received from theexternal commerce channel and one or more master metadata tags stored inthe ledger and associated with a data object profile, and update thedata object profile associated with the one or more master metadata tagsat least in part by associating the immutable ledger entry with the dataobject profile.

In accordance with yet another aspect, a digital business managementsystem is provided. The digital business management system comprising anon-transitory computer readable storage medium defining a ledger andone or more processors and configured to receive, at a hub and via acommunication application program interface, a transaction data objectgenerated as a part of a transaction event executed via an externalcommerce channel of one or more external commerce channels to be postedto the ledger, wherein the transaction data object comprises one or moremetadata tags classifying the transaction event. The digital businessmanagement system is further configured to generate an immutable ledgerentry based at least in part on the transaction data object, parse thetransaction data object to identify the one or more metadata tags forstorage in association with the transaction event, identify a matchbetween the one or more metadata tags received from the externalcommerce channel and one or more master metadata tags stored in theledger and associated with a data object profile, and update the dataobject profile associated with the one or more master metadata tags atleast in part by associating the immutable ledger entry with the dataobject profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an overview of a system that can be used to practiceembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example server in accordance with some embodimentsdiscussed herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example user computing entity in accordance withsome embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 4 is an overview of a system that can be used to practiceembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates schematic views of data transmissions between a usercomputing entity and a system, according to embodiments discussedherein;

FIGS. 6, 7, 8, and 9 illustrate exemplary operation sequence diagrams inaccordance with some embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic block diagram of circuitry that can beincluded in a user computing entity and/or server structured inaccordance with some embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 11 illustrates schematic views of data transmissions between a usercomputing entity and a system, according to embodiments discussedherein;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example signal protocol structured in accordancewith some embodiments discussed herein;

FIGS. 13, 14, and 15 illustrate example graphical user interfaces inaccordance with some embodiments discussed herein; and

FIG. 16 illustrates schematic views of data transmissions between a usercomputing entity and a system, according to embodiments discussedherein.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not allembodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legalrequirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

As used herein, the terms “industrial commerce B2B,” “iCommerce B2B,”and similar terms may be used interchangeably to refer to a systemcapable of providing business entities a platform for completeelectronic commerce transactions and solutions related to productdefinition, product setup, marketing, payment, and shipment inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods,apparatuses, systems, computing devices, and/or the like that areconfigured for providing, via a distributed product ledger anddecentralized identity verification protocols, product order trackingand product ownership security to establish, preserve, and validateownership rights and product information within an industrial commerceB2B environment. Such embodiments provide an immutable establishment ofauthenticity that verifies the authenticity and validity of any actionsand transactions by B2B users.

I. OVERVIEW

Industrial commerce B2B is a rapidly growing area of the iCommerce B2Bindustry, which makes it an increasingly common target for securitythreats (e.g., attempted hacking to gain unauthorized access) andwithout adequate security/authentication, hackers may obtainunauthorized access to B2B users' accounts, leak order histories andpayment details, and even disable accounts. To combat these securitythreats, various embodiments incorporate verification identityconfigurations to ensure only authorized users can successfully gainaccess to user-specific accounts. By first verifying the identity of theB2B user, embodiments of the present invention are able to betterprotect iCommerce B2B assets. In some embodiments, verifying theidentity of the B2B user, for example, through the B2B user's owndigital identification and security identification tokens reflected on adistributed ledger may also be utilized for authentication.

Conventional iCommerce B2B platforms utilize single-sign-on systems forelectronic account access for most every iCommerce B2B transaction. Mostcommon, a username and password are required, but have been found to bevery easy to hack. Conventional two-factor authentication may help, butprovides a great deal of user-system interface friction—conventionaltwo-factor authentication requires B2B users to wait for a security codeand then input the security code before having access to their accounts.Moreover, the movement of order and payment information between multipleparties complicates transactions, which can delay payments and disruptthe reconciliation process.

Embodiments of the present invention provide security that is at leastas strong as of two-factor authentication but having reduced frictionpoints for B2B users that handle high-value, high-volume orders thatinvolve multiple layers of suppliers and distributors built on adecentralized blockchain technology. Other embodiments combine theprocess of frictionless two-factor authentication with one or both abiometric input (e.g., a fingerprint, retinal scan, or the like) andsecurity identification token, to authenticate both the B2B user deviceand one or both possession thereof before, for example, pushing apayment or allowing access to one's account. Another embodiment of thepresent invention provides for a digital wallet having secure, surrogatepayment data called payment tokens to be used for various transactions(e.g., buying and selling of goods and/or services).

Certain embodiments provide for configurations for maintaining anindustrial ecommerce website, including configurations for uploading andmarketing new products (or new details of existing products), andfulfilling an order. For example, a B2B user is placing a new product orservice online via an iCommerce B2B platform according to variousembodiments. The iCommerce B2B platform may utilize blockchaintechnology, wherein each step in the process (product upload, placement,payment, fulfillment, shipping, and delivery) adds a new block to thechain with the time that the action was performed. In this regard,disputes regarding payment or order details are less likely to occur dueto the decentralized, tamper-proof nature of the blockchain-based ledgeras the ledger operates as a transparent and public record of alltransactions (the data within the ledger being sufficiently encrypted toavoid unauthorized access). The present invention further provides for aday-to-day maintenance of iCommerce B2B stores with multi countrychannels as well as facilitating cross-border transactions.

Various embodiments provide for automatically monitoring and recordingdata indicative of each digital interaction of a business and theirproducts, including transactional data, product details, deliverydetails, payment details, product provenance, buyer information, etc. ina ledger (e.g., an immutable ledger) reflected within a secureelectronic storage environment configured in accordance with Blockchainstorage methodologies. Businesses can selectively share such data withcustomers and/or partners to determine a most cost-effective contract ormarketing strategy. In certain embodiments, at least a portion of avendor's product details may be selectably shared via an electronicmarketplace populated with pre-vetted vendors, with the opportunity toprice products differently for different audiences. In certainembodiments, this product information may be additionally provided to aplurality of other (e.g., external) sales channels (e.g., that may bemanaged by third parties, such as Amazon.com, eBay™, Etsy™, Shopify™,and/or the like) while maintaining a centralized repository anddashboard configuration for managing the multiple sales channels (e.g.,Amazon.com, eBay™, Etsy™, Shopify™, etc.) in a single dashboard.Moreover, certain embodiments may encompass a credit management moduleto analyze business data stored within an immutable blockchain ledgerand associated with a particular business to determine the business'screditworthiness and may generate a loan business plan based on thebusiness's creditworthiness.

A. Technical Problem

Industrial commerce or iCommerce involving technical, industrial, andmanufacturing businesses require more complex functionality from ane-commerce platform than a business-to-consumer (B2C). Example complexfunctionalities these businesses require include streamlining complexlogistics and providing a verifiable history of transactions andprovenance of materials, ingredients, or goods. At least one technicalchallenge is the ability to transfer product information from onecommerce system or platform to another commerce system. The lack ofproper integration of different commerce systems can causemis-synchronization of metadata because different commerce platformspresent data objects and metadata at different fragments, levels, types,and granularities. Capturing such data is computationally burdensome andtime consuming. Another problem is secure provenance in systems sincedata is easily modifiable and there is no inherent implementationsrelated to authenticating the history of data stored in systems.Additionally, many electronic commerce systems are configured to providesecurity against unauthorized access by third parties unrelated to abusiness and/or a hosting entity. However, many existing systems areconfigured such that representatives of a hosting service are consideredtrusted individuals having nearly unencumbered access to data of thebusiness, even though such individuals are otherwise unrelated to thebusiness. Thus, in particular business relationships, the hostingservice may directly or indirectly compete with businesses that arehosted by its services. Businesses have tolerated such relationshipsbecause the hosting services may be provided in a Software as a Service(SaaS) configuration, in which technical and business assistancerequires some level of access by the hosting service representatives.Details such as the business's inventory, transactions, negotiations,contract details, etc. may be easily accessible to the hosting entitydue to the hosting relationship of existing services. Additionally, suchsystems generate a large amount of business data including transactions,purchasing of materials, manufacturing, marketing, distributingproducts, and product sales. The complexity and volume of data may oftenmake it impractical or impossible for a system, let alone individualbusinesses to manage and understand, thus may not illuminate transactionopportunities.

B. Technical Solution

To solve the foregoing technical problems while protecting the privacyof businesses, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention providesa product-centric ledger as a portion of a digital business managementsystem architecture provided via an immutable ledger, such asblockchain. Data stored within the immutable ledger may be encrypted andaccessible only to those computing devices and/or individuals authorizedfor access to the underlying data. The product-centric ledger approachcreates a platform that overcomes many challenging competitive threatsbusinesses face when they try to sell online. The digital businessmanagement system provides a standalone digital marketplace enablingbusinesses to facilitate management of various sales channels whilemaintaining control and privacy of their own data. Further, the digitalbusiness management system allows businesses to deploy and monitor theirdata through a single dashboard screen. In the iCommerce environment,data about a business's product or service may be available for sale ina plurality of disparate commerce channels (e.g., Amazon.com, eBay™,Etsy™, Shopify™, etc.). The digital business management system isconfigured to integrate data from the various commerce channels into asingle data store to enable businesses to track sales of products fromthe multiple channels, provide product-specific data automatically forreproduction in the multiple channels, maintain an open line ofcommunication tied to a specific product, and various processes relatedto consolidating and syncing product data. Additionally, data stored inthe ledger may be useful in gauging a credit worthiness of business toprovide loans or credit agreements facilitated through the digitalbusiness management system.

II. COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS, METHODS, AND COMPUTING ENTITIES

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in various ways,including as computer program products that comprise articles ofmanufacture. Such computer program products may include one or moresoftware components including, for example, software objects, methods,data structures, or the like. A software component may be coded in anyof a variety of programming languages. An illustrative programminglanguage may be a lower-level programming language such as an assemblylanguage associated with a particular hardware architecture and/oroperating system platform. A software component comprising assemblylanguage instructions may require conversion into executable machinecode by an assembler prior to execution by the hardware architectureand/or platform. Another example programming language may be ahigher-level programming language that may be portable across multiplearchitectures. A software component comprising higher-level programminglanguage instructions may require conversion to an intermediaterepresentation by an interpreter or a compiler prior to execution.

Other examples of programming languages include, but are not limited to,a macro language, a shell or command language, a job control language, ascript language, a database query or search language, and/or a reportwriting language. In one or more example embodiments, a softwarecomponent comprising instructions in one of the foregoing examples ofprogramming languages may be executed directly by an operating system orother software component without having to be first transformed intoanother form. A software component may be stored as a file or other datastorage construct. Software components of a similar type or functionallyrelated may be stored together such as, for example, in a particulardirectory, folder, or library. Software components may be static (e.g.,pre-established or fixed) or dynamic (e.g., created or modified at thetime of execution).

A computer program product may include a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing applications, programs, programmodules, scripts, source code, program code, object code, byte code,compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions,and/or the like (also referred to herein as executable instructions,instructions for execution, computer program products, program code,and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). Such non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media include all computer-readable media(including volatile and non-volatile media).

In one embodiment, a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium mayinclude a floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state storage(SSS) (e.g., a solid state drive (SSD), solid state card (SSC), solidstate module (SSM), enterprise flash drive, magnetic tape, or any othernon-transitory magnetic medium, and/or the like. A non-volatilecomputer-readable storage medium may also include a punch card, papertape, optical mark sheet (or any other physical medium with patterns ofholes or other optically recognizable indicia), compact disc read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disc-rewritable (CD-RW), digital versatile disc(DVD), Blu-ray disc (BD), any other non-transitory optical medium,and/or the like. Such a non-volatile computer-readable storage mediummay also include read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory(PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory (e.g.,Serial, NAND, NOR, and/or the like), multimedia memory cards (MMC),secure digital (SD) memory cards, SmartMedia cards, CompactFlash (CF)cards, Memory Sticks, and/or the like. Further, a non-volatilecomputer-readable storage medium may also include conductive-bridgingrandom access memory (CBRAM), phase-change random access memory (PRAM),ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM), non-volatile random-accessmemory (NVRAM), magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM), resistiverandom-access memory (RRAM), Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon memory(SONOS), floating junction gate random access memory (FJG RAM),Millipede memory, racetrack memory, and/or the like.

In one embodiment, a volatile computer-readable storage medium mayinclude random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM),static random access memory (SRAM), fast page mode dynamic random accessmemory (FPM DRAM), extended data-out dynamic random access memory (EDODRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double datarate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), double datarate type two synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR2 SDRAM),double data rate type three synchronous dynamic random access memory(DDR3 SDRAM), Rambus dynamic random access memory (RDRAM), TwinTransistor RAM (TTRAM), Thyristor RAM (T-RAM), Zero-capacitor (Z-RAM),Rambus in-line memory module (RIMM), dual in-line memory module (DIMM),single in-line memory module (SIMM), video random access memory (VRAM),cache memory (including various levels), flash memory, register memory,and/or the like. It will be appreciated that where embodiments aredescribed to use a computer-readable storage medium, other types ofcomputer-readable storage media may be substituted for or used inaddition to the computer-readable storage media described above.

As should be appreciated, various embodiments of the present inventionmay also be implemented as methods, apparatus, systems, computingentities, computing entities, and/or the like. As such, embodiments ofthe present invention may take the form of an apparatus, system,computing entity, computing entity, and/or the like executinginstructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium to performcertain steps or operations. Thus, embodiments of the present inventionmay also take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirelycomputer program product embodiment, and/or an embodiment that comprisescombination of computer program products and hardware performing certainsteps or operations.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with referenceto block diagrams and flowchart illustrations. Thus, it should beunderstood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations may be implemented in the form of a computer programproduct, an entirely hardware embodiment, a combination of hardware andcomputer program products, and/or apparatus, systems, computingentities, computing entities, and/or the like carrying out instructions,operations, steps, and similar words used interchangeably (e.g., theexecutable instructions, instructions for execution, program code,and/or the like) on a computer-readable storage medium for execution.For example, retrieval, loading, and execution of code may be performedsequentially such that one instruction is retrieved, loaded, andexecuted at a time. In some exemplary embodiments, retrieval, loading,and/or execution may be performed in parallel such that multipleinstructions are retrieved, loaded, and/or executed together. Thus, suchembodiments can produce specifically configured machines performing thesteps or operations specified in the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations. Accordingly, the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support various combinations of embodiments for performingthe specified instructions, operations, or steps.

III. EXEMPLARY SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 1 provides an illustration of an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 1 shows system 100 including an example networkarchitecture for a system, which may include one or more devices andsub-systems that are configured to implement some embodiments discussedherein. As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 may comprise a digitalbusiness management system 130, one or more user computing entities110A-110N, one or more networks 120, one or more external commercechannels 120A-120N each comprising external APIs (applicationprogramming interfaces) 121A-121N, respectively. Each of the componentsof the system may be in electronic communication with, for example, oneanother over the same or different wireless or wired networks asdiscussed herein.

In the example illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, the digital businessmanagement system 130 may include digital business management server 140and a plurality of ledger databases 150, which can be embodied as a partof, for example, circuitry 200 and/or database, among other devices (notshown). In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130may generate a data object associated with a product or service for salein an industrial internet iCommerce marketplace provided by the digitalbusiness management system 130. Data objects are stored via a ledgerdatabase 150 (shown in FIG. 1) which may be stored as a part of and/orin communication with one or more user computing entities 110A-110Nand/or the digital business management system 130. The ledger database150 may further include information accessed and stored by the one ormore user computing entities 110A-110N to facilitate the digitalbusiness management system 130.

Digital business management system 130 can communicate with one or moreuser computing entities 110A-110N, one or more external commercechannels 120A-120N, and/or other computing entities via network 120, anda plurality of user computing entities 110A-110N may communicate withone another, and/or other computing entities such as the one or moreexternal commerce channels 120A-120N, via the network 120. In thisregard, network 120 may include any wired or wireless communicationnetwork including, for example, a wired or wireless local area network(LAN), personal area network (PAN), metropolitan area network (MAN),wide area network (WAN), or the like, as well as any hardware, softwareand/or firmware required to implement it (such as, e.g., networkrouters, etc.). For example, network 120 may include a cellulartelephone, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, and/or WiMax network. Further, thenetwork 120 may include a public network, such as the Internet, aprivate network, such as an intranet, or combinations thereof, and mayutilize a variety of networking protocols now available or laterdeveloped including, but not limited to TCP/IP based networkingprotocols. For instance, the networking protocol may be customized tosuit the needs of the group-based communication interface. In someembodiments, the protocol is a custom protocol of JSON objects sent viaa Websocket channel. In some embodiments, the protocol is JSON over RPC,JSON over REST/HTTP, and the like.

The digital business management server 140 may be embodied as a computeror group of computers. The digital business management server 140 mayprovide for receiving of electronic data from various sources, includingbut not necessarily limited to the user computing entities 110A-110N.For example, the digital business management server 140 may be operableto receive and manage data objects associated with products provided bythe user computing entities 110A-110N.

In an example embodiment, the digital business management system 130 canserve as a trusted repository that stores a business/user profile of abusiness account and a plurality of product profiles provided by thebusiness account. The business profile is a data object comprising anelectronic collection of information associated with a business such as,for example, activity information related to buying and/or sellingproducts or services. In an embodiment, such information may include,but is not limited to, business name, business type, biometricinformation in addition to other user-related data (e.g., user'sfingerprint scanner or user computing entity 110A includes uniquemarkings or scratches), geographical information, language(s) to beused, currency to be used, bank account information, partnerships,customers, products and/or services offered, and so forth. For example,the digital business management system 130 records and stores businessaccount activities related to buying and/or selling products or servicesto transaction records represented in ledger database 150.

The product profile is a data object comprising an electronic record ofinformation associated with a product, for example, product activityinformation related to sales and marketing, management, manufacturing,customer service, and financial analytics. Sales and marking may includemonitoring leads and online ad spend, cost-per-click, overall marketingspend and marketing ROI (return on investment) rates per specificproduct. Product management may include real time interaction withcustomer and prospects to create new products, new options, and updatedspecifications. Manufacturing may include management of onsite and thirdparty manufacturing partners and supply chain management. Customerservice include shipping, order verification, product-based customerservice and support, and product-based net promoter score and finally,financial analytics provides product margins and product revenue.

The digital business management system 130 provides an immutable recordof transactions, secure product provenance, and product sale trackingand integration through one or more sales channels. With regards toproviding an immutable record of transactions, the digital managementsystem 130 includes a ledger database 150 embodied as an immutableledger storing data regarding executed transactions. The ledger database150 is immutable which gives confidence that a product can be validatedby looking up events in the ledger related to the particular product. Insome embodiments, blockchain technology is utilized to provide animmutable record of the business activities and product transactions. Ablockchain is a transaction database shared by all entitiesparticipating in the digital business management system 130. Theblockchain contains every transaction and activity ever executed. Suchan embodiment ensures that the immutable ledger maintains data of one ormore transactions, such that businesses are provided with a sense ofsecurity that information relating to executed orders is properly storedfor later reference. Such immutable record of prior transactions ensuresdetailed information regarding such orders that may arise duringcustomized orders, negotiations, instructions, and requests that areconstantly being passed between businesses when finalizing atransaction.

In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130 providessecure product provenance and backward traceability of parts ofproducts. This includes information associated with the products' partssuch as, for example, processes used to generate parts, materials usedto form parts, and/or requirements that parts need to meet (e.g., safetyregulations, compliance, etc.). Moreover, a record entry is provided andstored within an immutable record for each and every product part statusat each stage of the production and order fulfillment lifecycle, therebyproviding a complete product provenance enabling each product to betraced to its source. For example, the digital business managementsystem 130 uses the ledger database to track sales of a product all overthe globe, track who manufactured the product, and in the event theproduct is recalled, the digital business management system 130 providesthe business with information on which product batches are affected andwho bought them. The digital business management system 130 furtherprovides means for tracking product sales originating from differentsales channels. The digital business management system 130 providesinformation on types of products sold by the various sales channels,inventory information, lead information, and various other sales ormarketing related information.

In some embodiments, ledger database 150 may be maintained in adistributed manner as a blockchain. The blockchain keeps track of alltransactions that occur within the digital business management system130. The blockchain also keeps track of transactions related to productsmanaged by the digital business management system 130 but occurringexternal to the digital business management system 130 (e.g.,transactions occurring within the one or more external commerce channels120A-120N). In certain embodiments, a single blockchain may be utilizedfor storing a plurality of data types, such as transaction records,business profiles, product provenance data, and/or the like. In otherembodiments, a plurality of blockchains may be utilized, each blockchainstoring different data types.

As used herein, a ledger refers to a ledger system comprising dataobjects (e.g., product data objects, profile data objects, etc.) bywhich access to the ledger and the data objects is restricted based onone or more encryption keys and/or one or more security tokens. Accessto the product data objects, data within the product data objects,transaction information, associated metadata, or the ledger itself maybe restricted by only sending data to those businesses who should haveit and not sending data to those businesses who should not have it.

User computing entities 110A-110N and/or digital business managementsystem 130 may each be implemented as one or more computers, computingentities, desktop computers, mobile phones, tablets, phablets,notebooks, laptops, distributed systems, gaming consoles (e.g., Xbox,Play Station, Wii), watches, glasses, iBeacons, proximity beacons, keyfobs, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, ear pieces, scanners,televisions, dongles, cameras, wristbands, wearable items/devices,items/devices, vehicles, kiosks, input terminals, servers or servernetworks, blades, gateways, switches, processing devices, processingentities, set-top boxes, relays, routers, network access points, basestations, the like, and/or any combination of devices or entitiesadapted to perform the functions, operations, and/or processes describedherein. The depiction in FIG. 1 of “N” user computing entities is merelyfor illustration purposes. Any number of users and/or user computingentities 110A-110N may be included in the system for accessing and/orimplementing aspects of the digital business management system 130discussed herein (e.g., via one or more interfaces). In one embodiment,the user computing entities 110A-110N may be configured to display orprovide digital business management system interface on a display of theuser computing entity for viewing, creating, editing, and/or otherwiseinteracting with one or more data objects (e.g., products), which may beprovided or pushed by the digital business management system 130 (andany transactions related to the data object may be stored by ledgerdatabase 150). According to some embodiments, the digital businessmanagement system 130 may be configured to cause display or presentationof an interface for viewing, creating, editing, and/or otherwiseinteracting with one or more data objects.

As indicated above, the user computing entities 110A-110N may be anycomputing entity as defined above. Electronic data received by thedigital business management system 130 from the user computing entities110A-110N may be provided in various forms and via various methods. Forexample, the user computing entities 110A-110N may include desktopcomputers, laptop computers, smartphones, netbooks, tablet computers,wearables, and the like. In embodiments where a user computing entity110A-110N is a mobile device, such as a smart phone or tablet, the usercomputing entity 110A-110N may execute an “app” such as the digitalbusiness management application to interact with the digital businessmanagement system 130. Such apps are typically designed to execute onmobile devices, such as tablets or smartphones. For example, an app maybe provided that executes on mobile device operating systems such asiOS®, Android®, or Windows®. These platforms typically provideframeworks that allow apps to communicate with one another and withparticular hardware and software components of mobile devices. Forexample, the mobile operating systems named above each provideframeworks for interacting with location services circuitry, wired andwireless network interfaces, user contacts, and other applications.Communication with hardware and software modules executing outside ofthe app is typically provided via application programming interfaces(APIs) provided by the mobile device operating system.

Additionally, or alternatively, the user computing entities 110A-110Nmay interact with the digital business management system 130 via a webbrowser. In some embodiments of an exemplary digital business managementsystem 130, a message, signal, or messaging communication may be sentfrom user computing entity 110A to a digital business management server140. In various implementations, the message may be transmitted to thedigital business management system 130 over network 120 directly by usercomputing entities 110A-110N, the message may be transmitted to thedigital business management system 130 via an intermediary such as amessage server, and/or the like. For example, the user computing entity110A may be a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, and/or the likethat is executing a client commerce channel application (e.g., Shopify™app). In one implementation, the message may include transaction datasuch as a data object profile identifier, transaction data contents(e.g., purchase order, inventory count, etc.), attachments (e.g.,files), metadata tags, and/or the like. In one embodiment, the digitalbusiness management server 140 may provide a message, substantially inthe form of a security signal protocol fragment data, as provided inFIG. 12. Each fragment data includes at least a description, a universalunique identifier (UUID), a name, and a transaction identifier. Eachfragment can include additional data indicative of artifacts of digitalbusiness management system 130.

In some embodiments, the user computing entities 110A-110N and/or thedigital business management server 140 will access and communicate withone or more external commerce channels 120A-120N through network 120. Insome examples, external commerce channels 120A-120N may includeAmazon.com, eBay™, Etsy™, Shopify™ and the like. The one or moreexternal commerce channels 120A-120N are separate network entities fromthe digital business management system 130. Communication with the oneor more external commerce channels 120A-120N is typically provided viaAPIs 121A-121N provided by the external commerce channels 120A-120N asdepicted in FIG. 1. In various embodiments, the APIs 121A-121N definethe protocol and procedural steps by which external commerce channels120A-120N may make transaction data objects available foraccess/ingestion by the digital business management system 130.

The external commerce channels 120A-120N provide online commerceservices via one or more external calendar applications accessed overthe network 120 such as for selling products, managing orders,inventory, payments, and shipping.

An omni-channel API 160 of the digital business management server 140facilitates sharing of external transaction data objects among andbetween the digital business management system 130 and the externalcommerce channels 120A-120N. The omni-channel API 160 further definesthe security and authentication protocols that govern communicationsbetween the external commerce channels 120A-120N and the digitalbusiness management system 130. In various embodiments, the omni-channelAPI 160 comprises all or part of the API handler circuitry 217 discussedin connection with FIG. 2. For example, the omni-channel API 160interfaces with the external commerce channels 120A-120N to receivetransaction events. The external commerce channels 120A-120N generatetransaction events regarding product activity within each of theexternal commerce channels 120A-120N. In some embodiments, the digitalbusiness management system 130 registers with each of the externalcommerce channels 120A-120N to receive certain transaction eventscomprising transaction data objects. In this case, when a transactionevent of a certain type for which the digital business management system130 registered occurs at one or more of the external commerce channels120A-120N, the one or more external commerce channels 120A-120Ntransmits or forwards the transaction event to the digital businessmanagement system 130 via one or more of the external APIs 121A-121N.

In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130facilitates the purchase and delivery of products anytime and anywhere.The digital business management system 130 may use any of thealgorithms, operations, steps, and processes disclosed herein to providea secure, seamless, and omni-channel product management system thatenables continuous product management across multiple channels (e.g.,external commerce channels 120A-120N). Thus, the digital businessmanagement system 130 is configured to manage the entire productgeneration-to-fulfillment as a chain of related transactions, handledvia a single dashboard.

Moreover, the digital business management system 130 is configured suchthat product transactions from one or more external commerce channels120A-120N can be tracked and managed via a single dashboard, withproviding product-specific data automatically for reproduction in thedisparate sales channels and maintaining an open line of communicationtied to the specific product to streamline and simplify selling throughvarious sales channels as well as pricing and marketing the specificproduct differently in each sales channel.

In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130 mayinclude a hub or iCommerce network hub acting as a center for receivingand processing transaction and account information such as for example,transaction information related to product ordering, selling, buying,marketing, etc. The account information may include information relatedto security tokens, analytics, creditworthiness, account authentication,etc. The iCommerce network hub may employ rules and/or constraints toprotect data and ensure data consistency and serve as a centralauthority facilitating control over transactions and data integrity ofledger databases 150 and its records. The iCommerce network hub is acentralized, digital hub for product and customer data, they alloweCommerce businesses to perform actions such as customize productinformation, manage web content and layout, allow online transactions tooccur, and adjust the platform according to businesses' online needs byproviding appropriate user input via corresponding user interfaces.eCommerce platforms unify, scale, and maintain core business processeslike the front-facing selling of products and services, and the back-endfunctions of managing inventory and customer order history.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example digital business management iCommerceinfrastructure platform 400 comprising a digital business managementiCommerce infrastructure 401. The digital business management iCommerceinfrastructure 401 represents the software environment supporting theintended business functionality for the selected various serviceofferings. The digital business management iCommerce infrastructure 401includes an iCommerce network hub 402 that is connected to a pluralityof applications, services, and platforms including, for example,iCommerce product application (app) 403, virtual hardware securitymodule (vHSM) key management 404, cash management platform 405, andblockchain 406.

The iCommerce product app 403 in combination with one or more of theiCommerce product shopping cart 407 and the iCommerce product ledgerdata access layer (DAL) 408 is configured to enable abusiness-to-business (B2B) user 409 (e.g., business) to upload a newproduct for sale, for example, via an industrial iCommerce website 410.In some embodiments, the digital business management iCommerceinfrastructure 401 further comprises an iCommerce product administration(admin) 411 that may be configured to facilitate authorizing B2B users409 access to the digital business management iCommerce infrastructure401. Additionally, the iCommerce product admin 411 may be configured tofacilitate authentication of the B2B user 409 prior to uploading theproduct to the iCommerce product app 403. In another example embodiment,the iCommerce product admin 411 utilizes a specifically configuredomni-channel API 160 to ingest or receive external transaction dataobjects. The omni-channel API 160 comprising API handler circuitry 217of FIG. 2 is operable to handle the various API calls 412-417 (e.g.,marketing API 412, transactional email API 413, shipping API 414,geolocation API 415, sales tax API 416, and payment API 417) from theone or more external commerce channels 120A-120N. Moreover, theomnichannel API is configured to extract various data elements from theone or more external commerce channels 120A-120N, thereby enablinggeneration of a product profile comprising data indicative of aplurality of product sales channels. In some embodiments, the iCommerceproduct admin 411 may be configured to add or remove products or B2Buser accounts and/or webstores on the industrial e-commerce website.

In some embodiments, the iCommerce product shopping cart 407 is asophisticated shopping cart that includes programming logic to support,manage, and facilitate purchase orders, financing, and othercapabilities. In particular, capabilities such as the ability to acceptrecurring payments, sign contracts, and pay via financing. In anotherexample embodiment, the iCommerce product shopping cart 407 may furtherfacilitate price negotiations in that there may be pricingconsiderations for businesses (e.g., buyers) whose orders tend to belarge and wholesale. As such, the iCommerce product shopping cart 407 isconfigured to cater to how buyers pay by offering tiered pricing,quotes, and/or promotions.

The iCommerce product app 403 uses the iCommerce product ledger DAL 408to return datasets from the ledger database 150 that comprises metadataabout product(s) and/or account(s) that are entitled to the B2B user409. In some embodiments, the datasets must meet certain criteria suchas: the datasets are not older than a defined age (e.g., three days),the datasets must be associated with a unique identifier, the datasetsmust be a specific data type, etc.

In some embodiments, the iCommerce network hub 402 utilizes blockchain406 in various ways to facilitate data transactions. The iCommercenetwork hub 402 utilizes blockchain 406, vHSM key management 404, andcash management platform 405 to provide a secure framework for buying,selling, shipping, and recording data transactions. In an exampleembodiment, when the B2B user 409 desires to list, sell, buy, or trade aproduct or service, the user's B2B wallet 418 may provide access to thedigital business management iCommerce infrastructure 401 by utilizingspecialized cryptographic keys, tokens, tokenization protocols which areemployed and/or configured to update the ledger database 150 andexchange payment tokens among B2B wallets 418 in order to facilitatebuying, selling, trading, and authenticating products. In someembodiments, the iCommerce network hub 402 utilizing blockchain 406, andthe vHSM key management 404, and cash management platform 405 maysupport credit payment systems and cash payment systems. The platformconverts the plurality of financial instruments (e.g., cash, credit,check, money order, coupons, virtual currency, etc.) into payment tokensthat can be exchanged among the B2B users 409 B2B wallets 418 based ontransactions recorded on the ledger. These virtual payment tokens may beassociated with an existing account (e.g., a bank account). The paymenttokens may be associated and/or customized based on various identifyinginformation, product information and/or circumstantial informationassociated with the provisioning of the payment token or the B2B user409 reputation. In another example embodiment, security or trust tokensmay be used to track B2B accounts, transactions, and assets usingblockchain 406 and ledger database 150.

In this case, the cash management platform 405 may be configured torequest initiation of an authentication process to validate andauthenticate the identity of the B2B user 409 before token provisioning419 and token acceptance 420 processes may be initiated. In this regard,the vHSM key management 404 provides the generation, exchange, storage,use, and replacement of encryption keys used to encrypt data. As furtherdiscussed herein, the vHSM key management 404 is configured to generateone or more cryptographic keys used to encrypt and decrypt data.

In some embodiments, the digital business management iCommerceinfrastructure 401 is configured to receive decentralized productinformation from the B2B user 409 via the industrial iCommerce website410, store the product information as product data object via theiCommerce product ledger DAL 408 to the ledger database 150, and manageand secure the product data object using the iCommerce product app 403.In an example embodiment, receiving the product information from the B2Buser 409 may comprise enabling B2B users 409 to upload product imagesand product information to the industrial iCommerce website 410 inconnection with the digital business management iCommerce infrastructure401. Because of the decentralized nature of the digital businessmanagement iCommerce infrastructure 401, product ledger information isstored in cloud memory by authentication tokenization.

In some examples, the iCommerce product app 403 may store the productimages and product information in the ledger database 150 using theiCommerce product ledger DAL 408 which acts as a logical entity betweenthe iCommerce product app 403 and the ledger database 150. In someexamples, the ledger database 150 may also comprises a variety ofadditional product data representative of transaction history. Forexample, the ledger database 150 may comprise data related to paymentinformation, transactions, refunds, expirations, statistics, and/orother data. Alternatively, or additionally, the ledger database 150 maycomprise data that is suggestive of shipping efficiency metrics,marketing campaigns, and the like. In some examples, shipping anddelivery of products may be monitored at least in part via the iCommerceproduct shopping cart 407, for example, the iCommerce product shoppingcart 407 may transmit a notification of delivery and receipt ofproducts.

Each of these components, entities, devices, systems, and similar wordsused herein interchangeably may be in direct or indirect communicationwith, for example, one another over the same or different wired orwireless networks. Additionally, while FIG. 4 illustrates the varioussystem entities as separate, standalone entities, the variousembodiments are not limited to this particular architecture.

A. Exemplary Circuitry of Digital Business Management System

FIG. 2 provides a schematic of circuitry 200, some or all of which maybe included in, for example, digital business management system 130and/or user computing entities 110A-110N. Any of the aforementionedsystems or devices may include the circuitry 200 and may be configuredto, either independently or jointly with other devices in a network 120perform the functions of the circuitry 200 described herein. In general,the terms computing entity, entity, device, system, and/or similar wordsused herein interchangeably may refer to, for example, one or morecomputers, computing entities, desktop computers, mobile phones,tablets, phablets, notebooks, laptops, distributed systems,items/devices, terminals, servers or server networks, blades, gateways,switches, processing devices, processing entities, set-top boxes,relays, routers, network access points, base stations, the like, and/orany combination of devices or entities adapted to perform the functions,operations, and/or processes described herein. Such functions,operations, and/or processes may include, for example, transmitting,receiving, operating on, processing, displaying, storing, determining,creating/generating, monitoring, evaluating, comparing, and/or similarterms used herein interchangeably. In one embodiment, these functions,operations, and/or processes can be performed on data, content,information, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in accordance with some example embodiments,circuitry 200 can includes various means, such as processing element205, volatile memory 207, non-volatile memory 206, communicationsinterface 208, ledger database 150, digital business management systemapplication 209, and/or input/output circuitry 216. As referred toherein, “circuitry” includes hardware, software and/or firmwareconfigured to perform one or more particular functions. In this regard,the means of circuitry 200 as described herein may be embodied as, forexample, circuitry, hardware elements (e.g., a suitably programmedprocessor, combinational logic circuit, and/or the like), a computerprogram product comprising computer-readable program instructions storedon a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., non-volatile memory206) that is executable by a suitably configured processing device(e.g., processing element 205), or some combination thereof.

Input/output circuitry 216 may be in communication with processingelement 205 to receive an indication of a user input and/or to providean audible, visual, mechanical, or other output to a user (e.g.,provider and/or consumer). As such, input/output circuitry 216 mayinclude support, for example, for a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, adisplay, a touch screen display, a microphone, a speaker, a RFID reader,barcode reader, biometric scanner, and/or other input/output mechanisms.In embodiments wherein circuitry 200 is embodied as a server ordatabase, aspects of input/output circuitry 216 may be reduced ascompared to embodiments where circuitry 200 is implemented as anend-user machine (e.g., consumer device and/or provider device) or othertype of device designed for complex user interactions. In someembodiments (like other components discussed herein), input/outputcircuitry 216 may even be eliminated from circuitry 200. Alternatively,such as in embodiments wherein circuitry 200 is embodied as a server ordatabase, at least some aspects of input/output circuitry 216 may beembodied on an apparatus used by a user that is in communication withcircuitry 200. Input/output circuitry 216 may be in communication withthe volatile memory 207, non-volatile memory 206, communicationsinterface 208, and/or any other component(s), such as via a bus. One ormore than one input/output circuitry and/or another component can beincluded in circuitry 200.

Ledger database 150 and digital business management system 130 may alsoor instead be included and configured to perform the functionalitydiscussed herein. In some embodiments, some or all of the functionalitymay be performed by processing element 205. In this regard, the exampleprocesses and algorithms discussed herein can be performed by at leastone processing element 205, ledger database 150, and/or digital businessmanagement system 130. For example, non-transitory computer readablemedia can be configured to store firmware, one or more applicationprograms, and/or other software, which include instructions and othercomputer-readable program code portions that can be executed to controleach processor (e.g., processing element 205, ledger database 150,and/or digital business management system 130) of the components ofcircuitry 200 to implement various operations, including the examplesshown above. As such, a series of computer-readable program codeportions are embodied in one or more computer program goods and can beused, with a computing entity, server, and/or other programmableapparatus, to produce machine-implemented processes.

As indicated, in one embodiment, circuitry 200 may also include one ormore network and/or communications interfaces 208 for communicating withvarious computing entities, such as by communicating data, content,information, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably that canbe transmitted, received, operated on, processed, displayed, stored,and/or the like. For instance, the circuitry 200 may communicate withother computing entities, one or more user computing entities 110A-110N,and/or the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment, the circuitry 200 may include orbe in communication with one or more processing elements 205 (alsoreferred to as processors, processing circuitry, and/or similar termsused herein interchangeably) that communicate with other elements withinthe circuitry 200 via a bus, for example, or network connection. As willbe understood, the processing element 205 may be embodied in a number ofdifferent ways. For example, the processing element 205 may be embodiedas one or more complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs),microprocessors, multi-core processors, coprocessing entities,application-specific instruction-set processors (ASIPs), and/orcontrollers. Further, the processing element 205 may be embodied as oneor more other processing devices or circuitry. The term circuitry mayrefer to an entirely hardware embodiment or a combination of hardwareand computer program products. Thus, the processing element 205 may beembodied as integrated circuits, application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmablelogic arrays (PLAs), hardware accelerators, other circuitry, and/or thelike. As will therefore be understood, the processing element 205 may beconfigured for a particular use or configured to execute instructionsstored in volatile or non-volatile media or otherwise accessible to theprocessing element 205. As such, whether configured by hardware orcomputer program products, or by a combination thereof, the processingelement 205 may be capable of performing steps or operations accordingto embodiments of the present invention when configured accordingly.

In one embodiment, the circuitry 200 may further include or be incommunication with non-volatile media (also referred to as non-volatilestorage, memory, memory storage, memory circuitry and/or similar termsused herein interchangeably). In one embodiment, the non-volatilestorage or memory may include one or more non-volatile storage or memorymedia as described above, such as hard disks, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM,flash memory, MMCs, SD memory cards, Memory Sticks, CBRAM, PRAM, FeRAM,RRAM, SONOS, racetrack memory, and/or the like. As will be recognized,the non-volatile storage or memory media may store databases, databaseinstances, database management system entities, data, applications,programs, program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code,compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions,and/or the like. The term database, database instance, databasemanagement system entity, and/or similar terms used hereininterchangeably and in a general sense to refer to a structured orunstructured collection of information/data that is stored in acomputer-readable storage medium.

Non-volatile memory 206 may also be embodied as a data storage device ordevices, as a separate database server or servers, or as a combinationof data storage devices and separate database servers. Further, in someembodiments, non-volatile memory 206 may be embodied as a distributedrepository such that some of the stored information/data is storedcentrally in a location within the system and other information/data isstored in one or more remote locations. Alternatively, in someembodiments, the distributed repository may be distributed over aplurality of remote storage locations only. An example of theembodiments contemplated herein would include a cloud data storagesystem maintained by a third-party provider and where some or all of theinformation/data required for the operation of the relevancy predictionsystem may be stored. As a person of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize, the information/data required for the operation of therelevancy prediction system may also be partially stored in the clouddata storage system and partially stored in a locally maintained datastorage system.

Non-volatile memory 206 may include information/data accessed and storedby the digital business management system 130 to facilitate theoperations of the system. More specifically, non-volatile memory 206 mayencompass one or more data stores configured to store information/datausable in certain embodiments.

B. Exemplary User Computing Entity

FIG. 3 provides an illustrative schematic representative of usercomputing entity 110A-110N that can be used in conjunction withembodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, a usercomputing entity 110A can include an antenna 312, a transmitter 304(e.g., radio), a receiver 306 (e.g., radio), network interface 320, anda processing element 308 that provides signals to and receives signalsfrom the transmitter 304 and receiver 306, respectively. The signalsprovided to and received from the transmitter 304 and the receiver 306,respectively, may include signaling information/data in accordance withan air interface standard of applicable wireless systems to communicatewith various entities, such as an digital business management system130, another user computing entity 110A, and/or the like. In thisregard, the user computing entity 110A may be capable of operating withone or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulationtypes, and access types. More particularly, the user computing entity110A may operate in accordance with any of a number of wirelesscommunication standards and protocols. In a particular embodiment, theuser computing entity 110A may operate in accordance with multiplewireless communication standards and protocols, such as GPRS, UMTS,CDMA2000, 1×RTT, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, LTE, E-UTRAN, EVDO, HSPA, HSDPA,Wi-Fi, WiMAX, UWB, IR protocols, Bluetooth protocols, USB protocols,and/or any other wireless protocol.

Via these communication standards and protocols, the user computingentity 110A can communicate with various other entities using conceptssuch as Unstructured Supplementary Service information/data (USSD),Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency Signaling (DTMF), and/or Subscriber IdentityModule Dialer (SIM dialer). The user computing entity 110A can alsodownload changes, add-ons, and updates, for instance, to its firmware,software (e.g., including executable instructions, applications, programmodules), and operating system.

According to one embodiment, the user computing entity 110A may includelocation determining aspects, devices, modules, functionalities, and/orsimilar words used herein interchangeably. For example, the usercomputing entity 110A may include outdoor positioning aspects, such as alocation module adapted to acquire, for example, latitude, longitude,altitude, geocode, course, direction, heading, speed, UTC, date, and/orvarious other information/data. In one embodiment, the location modulecan acquire data, sometimes known as ephemeris data, by identifying thenumber of satellites in view and the relative positions of thosesatellites. The satellites may be a variety of different satellites,including LEO satellite systems, DOD satellite systems, the EuropeanUnion Galileo positioning systems, the Chinese Compass navigationsystems, Indian Regional Navigational satellite systems, and/or thelike. Alternatively, the location information/data may be determined bytriangulating the computing entity's position in connection with avariety of other systems, including cellular towers, Wi-Fi accesspoints, and/or the like. Similarly, the user computing entity 110A mayinclude indoor positioning aspects, such as a location module adapted toacquire, for example, latitude, longitude, altitude, geocode, course,direction, heading, speed, time, date, and/or various otherinformation/data. Some of the indoor aspects may use various position orlocation technologies including RFID tags, indoor beacons ortransmitters, Wi-Fi access points, cellular towers, nearby computingentities (e.g., smartphones, laptops) and/or the like. For instance,such technologies may include iBeacons, Gimbal proximity beacons, BLE(Bluetooth Low Energy) transmitters, NFC transmitters, and/or the like.These indoor positioning aspects can be used in a variety of settings todetermine the location of someone or something to within inches orcentimeters.

The user computing entity 110A may also comprise a user interface devicecomprising one or more user input/output interfaces (e.g., a display 316and/or speaker/speaker driver coupled to a processing element 308 and atouch screen, keyboard, mouse, and/or microphone coupled to a processingelement 308). For example, the user output interface may be configuredto provide an application, browser, user interface, dashboard, webpage,and/or similar words used herein interchangeably executing on and/oraccessible via the user computing entity 110A to cause display oraudible presentation of information/data and for user interactiontherewith via one or more user input interfaces. As just one specificexample, the user computing entity 110A may be configured to outputvarious interface screens associated with an digital business managementsystem 130, which may provide various setup/registration screens and/ormay provide one or more product order confirmations for a user of theuser computing entity 110A. The user input interface can comprise any ofa number of devices allowing the user computing entity 110A to receivedata, such as a keypad 318 (hard or soft), a touch display, voice/speechor motion interfaces, scanners, readers, or other input device. Inembodiments including a keypad 318, the keypad 318 can include (or causedisplay of) the conventional numeric (0-9) and related keys (#, *), andother keys used for operating the user computing entity 110A and mayinclude a full set of alphabetic keys or set of keys that may beactivated to provide a full set of alphanumeric keys. In addition toproviding input, the user input interface can be used, for example, toactivate or deactivate certain functions, such as screen savers and/orsleep modes. Through such inputs the user computing entity 110A cancollect information/data, user interaction/input, and/or the like.

The user computing entity 110A can also include volatile storage ormemory 322 and/or non-volatile storage or memory 324, which can beembedded and/or may be removable. For example, the non-volatile memorymay be ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, MMCs, SD memory cards,Memory Sticks, CBRAM, PRAM, FeRAM, RRAM, SONOS, racetrack memory, and/orthe like. The volatile memory may be RAM, DRAM, SRAM, FPM DRAM, EDODRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, RDRAM, RIMM, DIMM, SIMM,VRAM, cache memory, register memory, and/or the like. The volatile andnon-volatile storage or memory can store databases, database instances,database management system entities, data, applications, programs,program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiledcode, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/orthe like to implement the functions of the user computing entity 110A.Again, as a specific example, the user computing entity memory storageareas (encompassing one or both volatile memory 322 and/or non-volatilememory 324) may store the digital business management system application209 thereon. The memory storage areas discussed herein may furtherencompass one or more aspects of ledger database 150, as discussed ingreater detail herein (however the ledger database 150 may be stored inassociation with the digital business management system 130 in certainembodiments).

In one embodiment, the digital business management system 130 mayfurther include or be in communication with volatile media (alsoreferred to as volatile storage, memory, memory storage, memorycircuitry and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). In oneembodiment, the volatile storage or memory may also include one or morevolatile storage or memory media as described above, such as RAM, DRAM,SRAM, FPM DRAM, EDO DRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM,RDRAM, RIMM, DIMM, SIMM, VRAM, cache memory, register memory, and/or thelike. As will be recognized, the volatile storage or memory media may beused to store at least portions of the databases, database instances,database management system entities, data, applications, programs,program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiledcode, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/orthe like being executed by, for example, the processing element 205.Thus, the databases, database instances, database management systementities, data, applications, programs, program modules, scripts, sourcecode, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machinecode, executable instructions, and/or the like may be used to controlcertain aspects of the operation of the digital business managementsystem 130 with the assistance of the processing element 205 andoperating system.

As indicated, in one embodiment, the digital business management system130 may also include one or more network and/or communicationsinterfaces 208 for communicating with various computing entities, suchas by communicating data, content, information, and/or similar termsused herein interchangeably that can be transmitted, received, operatedon, processed, displayed, stored, and/or the like. For instance, thedigital business management system 130 may communicate with computingentities or communication interfaces of other computing entities, usercomputing entities 110, and/or the like.

As indicated, in one embodiment, the digital business management system130 may also include one or more network and/or communicationsinterfaces 208 for communicating with various computing entities, suchas by communicating data, content, information, and/or similar termsused herein interchangeably that can be transmitted, received, operatedon, processed, displayed, stored, and/or the like. Such communicationmay be executed using a wired data transmission protocol, such as fiberdistributed data interface (FDDI), digital subscriber line (DSL),Ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay, data over cableservice interface specification (DOCSIS), or any other wiredtransmission protocol. Similarly, the digital business management system130 may be configured to communicate via wireless external communicationnetworks using any of a variety of protocols, such as general packetradio service (GPRS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS),Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), CDMA2000 1× (1×RTT),Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), TimeDivision-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), Long TermEvolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network(E-UTRAN), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), High Speed Packet Access(HSPA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi),Wi-Fi Direct, 802.16 (WiMAX), ultra-wideband (UWB), infrared (IR)protocols, near field communication (NFC) protocols, Wibree, Bluetoothprotocols, wireless universal serial bus (USB) protocols, and/or anyother wireless protocol. The digital business management system 130 mayuse such protocols and standards to communicate using Border GatewayProtocol (BGP), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain NameSystem (DNS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP), HTTP over TLS/SSL/Secure, Internet Message Access Protocol(IMAP), Network Time Protocol (NTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol(SMTP), Telnet, Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure Sockets Layer(SSL), Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), UserDatagram Protocol (UDP), Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP),Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), HyperText Markup Language(HTML), and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the user computing entity 110A can also include anembedded-secure element (eSE). It is known to solder or weld a chip(e.g., a secure element) containing a payment application, subscriberidentity module (SIM) or universal subscriber identity module (USIM)applications and files in the user computing entity 110A. In thisexample, the chip soldered to the motherboard of the user computingentity 110A constitutes an eSE.

IV. EXEMPLARY SYSTEM FEATURES

The digital business management system 130 provides for, among otherthings, the following: a network of trusted and verified businesses, asingle-system providing sales and supply-chain management capabilities,comprehensive data history, immutable record keeping, businessreputation scoring, a token payment infrastructure, and a secure ledgersystem. The sales and supply-chain management capabilities of certainembodiments include, for example: building a webpage and uploadingproduct information; adding products to various sales channels, managingproducts advertised via the various sales channels, scheduling ordersand shipments and monitoring returns; managing purchase orders, bulkorders, and multimodal shipments; processing transactions by creditcard, purchase orders, or financing; conducting search engine marketing;and reviewing sales and marketing analytics.

A. Exemplary Data Flow for Adding Products

FIG. 5 illustrates various interactions between the user computingentity 110A, the digital business management system application 209, theiCommerce network hub 402, and the vHSM key management 404. Theinteractions serve to support adding data objects (e.g., product dataobjects representative of various products offered by a business entity)to the digital business management system 130.

The process 500 illustrates example operations performed by the digitalbusiness management system 130 for adding one or more product dataobjects to the ledger database 150 (relevant to one or more productsoffered by a business entity) and automatically creating and/orpopulating a webpage comprising various aspects of the one or moreproduct data objects for the product on the industrial iCommerce website410 that may be accessible to one or more prospective customers (e.g.,who may have access to the industrial iCommerce website 410 throughauthenticated access to the website based at least in part on dataprovided and stored within a user profile associated with theprospective customers). The process 500 starts at step 501 where thedigital business management system application 209 receives a dataobject upload request from the user computing entity 110A. In someembodiments, the digital business management system 130 provides aninterface for receiving the data object upload request (e.g., propertiesof the product data object in the form of user input). For example, theinterface may include a user input option (e.g., drop-down box) toidentify the product data object type (e.g., product or service) and acombination of data fields to enter the product data object name, price,description, shipping details, country of origin, promotions, internalnotes, and/or an internal product ID (identification). After the usersubmits the product data object information, the digital businessmanagement system 130 generates a new file with a .csv (comma separatedvalues) file extension comprising the product data object information.Alternatively, the user may import a current.csv file from an existingplatform associated with an external commerce channel 120A.

In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130 issuesuser computing entity 110A a security identification token (e.g., trustsecurity token or other authentication credential) for use in theblockchain based ledger to establish a trusted history of the B2B user'stransactions. In this case, the digital business management server 140provides the digital business management system application 209 and uponactivation of the digital business management system application 209 bythe user of the user computing entity 110A, provides a login interfacethat facilitates entering a valid username and password. As shown inFIG. 7, step 1, the username/login name and password are transmitted atthe app level to claim ownership to the digital business managementserver 140 which in turn, authenticates the entered username andpassword.

Returning to FIG. 5, step 502, the digital business management systemapplication 209 confirms the personally identifiable information (PII)which is any information used to distinguish or trace the B2B user'sidentity, such as name, account number, government-issuedidentification, financial account number, and the like. Accordingly, thedigital business management system application 209 may employ anobfuscation method to de-identify potentially personal information. Insome embodiments and as shown in FIG. 8, the digital business managementsystem application 209 submits the user account number (#) such as abank account number, credit account number, or the like, as shown instep 801 to the cash management platform 405 for token provisioning 419.In other words, cash or credit from the B2B user's bank account orcredit account is exchanged for payment tokens. As such, the B2B user'saccount number is forwarded to Issuer (step 802). In step 803 of FIG. 8,the closed-loop issuer matches the PII data against the ledger database150 and in step 804, the PII data is confirmed and forwarded to thedigital business management system application 209 verifying ownership(step 805).

In some embodiments and to ensure a higher degree of confidence that theuser is the real account holder, the digital business management systemapplication 209 may request biometrics or biometric data (e.g., afingerprint, retinal scan, or the like) of the user operating the usercomputing entity 110A (step 806). In some embodiments, the usercomputing entity 110A may be equipped with a biometric scanner tofacilitate one or more of iris scanning, retinal scanning, orfingerprint scanning capabilities. For example, the user may, forexample, provide his or her thumb fingerprint when requested by thedigital business management application 209 to initiate provision ofpayment tokens. At step 807, the digital business management systemapplication 209 may confirm ownership by determining that the previouslyregistered biometric data matches the biometric data received by theuser operating the user computing entity 110A.

Returning to FIG. 5, after the user is authenticated, the digitalbusiness management system application 209 may request a trust securitytoken from the vHSM key management 404 as shown in step 503. Inresponse, the vHSM key management 404 may issue the trust security tokento the digital business management system application 209 as shown instep 504. Pushing the trust token to the app level to claim ownership isalso shown in FIG. 7, step 2. In step 505 of FIG. 5, the digitalbusiness management system application 209 may transmit the data objectupload request with the trust security token, wherein the data object isencrypted with a public key associated with the user.

In some embodiments, the data object upload request comprises taking apicture of the product as shown in step 601 of process 600 of FIG. 6. Asshown in FIG. 6, the digital business management system 130 providesproduct setup, pricing, and storage. In some examples, the digitalbusiness management system 130 is configured to provide a seller app forthe B2B product seller to upload, for example, a new product forpurchase via the industrial iCommerce website 410. In some embodiments,the digital business management system 130 provides an interface forreceiving a new product via a data object upload request (e.g.,properties of the product data object in the form of user input). Forexample, the interface may include a user input option (e.g., drop-downbox) to identify the new product data object type (e.g., product orservice) and a combination of data fields to enter the product dataobject name, price, description, shipping details, country of origin,promotions, internal notes, and/or an internal product ID(identification). After the B2B product seller submits the new productdata object information, the digital business management system 130generates a new file with a .csv (comma separated values) file extensioncomprising the product data object information. Alternatively, the usermay import a current.csv file from an existing platform associated withan external commerce channel 120A.

B. System Provided Services Related to Products

As shown in FIG. 6, once the product is uploaded by the B2B productseller, the digital business management system 130 provides, via one ormore modules, services related to product analytics, blockchain storage,and key management encryption. As noted herein, one-click insightartificial intelligence and analytics comprises leveraging personalizedcontent for use in marketing. For example, once a new product isuploaded, the product analytics service module begins to gather data onbuyer interactions—what other products are the buyers looking at,whether the product has been added to the buyer's shopping carts, or anybehavioral insights.

Moreover, as mentioned herein, the digital business management system130 may be further configured for blockchain verification of the productto extract an encrypted data object profile identifier to verify thatthe identifier is associated with a transaction recorded blockchain, todetermine based on additional verification process steps that theproduct associated with the data object profile identifier is authenticand is owned by the B2B user. The data object profile identifier and theassociated product data object are stored in an immutable ledgerstructure (e.g., blockchain data structure) that records transactionsrelated to the product. In some embodiments, the data object profileidentifier used for blockchain transactions are created throughcryptography such as, for example, public key cryptography. For example,the relationship between a private key and a public key can be used toauthenticate or provide proof that the B2B user is associated with acreated transaction. (e.g., adding a promotion to a product). These dataobject profile identifiers are used to generate and transmit blockchaintransactions to an immutable ledger for verification thereon.

Additionally, the digital business management system 130 may provide aplurality of service modules related to token sales, product andcustomer lifecycle, multi-level marketing, credit worthiness, and ordermanagement as shown in FIG. 6. In an example embodiment, the digitalbusiness management system 130 further provides product promotion andmarketing. Once a purchase of the product is initiated, the digitalbusiness management system 130 may provide a secure communicationinfrastructure for the buyer and seller to generate a contract andnegotiate price as well as provide a token payment structure via anelectronic wallet as further discussed herein. The layers of securitytied to the digital business management system 130 establish closed-looptransactions, and the emergence of mobile payments also allows forbiometrics, such as fingerprints, to make sure that identities,transactions and the terms of those transactions are all safeguarded.

After the digital business management system application 209 transmitsthe data object upload request with the trust security token as shown instep 505 of FIG. 5, the process continues with step 506 where the vHSMkey management 404 is configured to confirm the public key bydetermining that the public key corresponds to a private key stored onthe vHSM key management 404. The vHSM key management 404 verifies thatthe private key is associated with the B2B user and the ledger andtransmits a signed confirmation certificate to the B2B user. Theownership of the private key implies that the B2B user can spend thepayment token which is associated with a specific address of the productledger. Any action such as, for example, purchasing, exchanging, orconducting a transaction is digitally signed by the B2B user using theprivate key. Without the private key, the payment token cannot be signedand therefore no transaction may take place. These transactions arerecorded in the product ledger of the digital business management system130.

This process is also shown in FIG. 7, where in step 7A, a public key issubmitted at the security level of the digital business managementsystem application 209 and in response the public key is certified(after verification) as shown in step 7B. In other words, an attestationprocess is implemented for proving that the user computing entity 110Ais trustworthy and has not been breached. The attestation process refersto cryptographically proving the source of a key as being (e.g. isstored in) the user computing entity 110A. Upon certifying the publickey, a private key is acquired as shown in FIG. 7. This is also shown inFIG. 6, step 507, where the vHSM key management 404 issues an encrypteddata object profile identifier to the iCommerce network hub 402. In step508, the iCommerce network hub 402 may then update the ledger with animmutable ledger entry based at least in part on the data object uploadrequest and the data object profile identifier (e.g., step 602 of FIG.6: upload product to product ledger and setup pricing). In step 509 ofFIG. 5, the digital business management system application 209 is thenconfigured to automatically create a webpage for the data object on theiCommerce website.

In some embodiments, automatically creating a webpage comprises pushingdata corresponding with the product to the website (e.g., industrialiCommerce website 410) and channel placing (e.g., updating eBay™storefront with new product) as shown by step 603 of FIG. 6. Forexample, the digital business management system application 209 mayprovide website structural components that the website is comprised ofsuch as WordPress plugins, web builders, wikis, content managementsystems, and the like. After creating the webpage, the digital businessmanagement system application 209 can provide means for automaticallyadding the product data object to the webpage and the product ledger.Additionally, as shown in step 604 of FIG. 6, uploading the product mayinclude generation of a marketing promotion (e.g., sending targetedpromotions, coupons and offers for the product to particular users).

C. Purchase Transaction Event

FIG. 6 further illustrates the product purchasing process. In someembodiments, the B2B product buyer purchases the product via a buyermApp as depicted in steps 605A and 605B using a B2B wallet (e.g.,digital wallets, eWallets, etc.). In some embodiments, the B2B walletcan be embodied as software configured to be stored and executable via aB2B user's smart phone and configured for executing a purchaseelectronically. In an example embodiment, the digital businessmanagement system 130 receives a purchase transaction event identifyingone or more products for purchase via corresponding data object profileidentifier(s). The purchase transaction comprises information related tothe purchase details (e.g., price, quantity, promotions applied, etc.)and payment details (e.g., payment token associated with the B2B productbuyer). The digital business management system processes the purchasetransaction event once the payment details are approved and verified.The purchase transaction event is recorded by the blockchain ledgerusing the associated data object profile identifier.

In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130 accessesthe ledger database 150 for the particular data object using the dataobject profile identifier. Additionally, the digital business managementsystem 130 accesses the ledger database 150 for the particular dataobject using the B2B user's profile identifier. The digital businessmanagement system 130 can then identify the one or more master metadatatags stored in the ledger and associated with the particular dataobject. The ledger is updated with the purchase transaction event. Forexample, the ledger includes information that the product associatedwith the product data object was purchased for a particular amount andquantity. Information related to any promotions and marketingcharacteristics activated at the time of the purchase transaction eventis also recorded to the ledger. Additionally, information related to whopurchased the product (e.g., B2B product buyer) is also recorded to theledger.

D. Token Payment Process

FIG. 9 illustrates a B2B wallet payment process 900. B2B wallet 901 isassociated with at least two clients (e.g., businesses) each with theirown id token (e.g., security token) used to authenticate the client.When executing a purchase using B2B wallet 901 with the digital businessmanagement system 130, the digital business management system 130implements a token provisioning process using collaborative trust 902.Example process steps in the token provisioning process usingcollaborative trust 902 include steps 801-810 of FIG. 8. In suchembodiments, collaborative trust refers to using a decentralized,immutable, and transparent ledger for all B2B transactions. The ledgerserves as a spreadsheet of all iCommerce B2B transactions. With adecentralized ledger, there is no one entity/server system that monitorsiCommerce B2B accounts, and instead there are a plurality of computingentities independently track of all the transactions. The plurality ofcomputing entities communicate with each other to ensure that they allhave recorded the same transactions and made the same conclusions. Noone single computer is capable of storing manipulates data within thedecentralized ledger for the gain of the computer owner, the other“nodes” or computers in the collaborative trust system would notvalidate the manipulated data, and thus would not be stored within thedecentralized ledger. Using said collaborative trust, embodiments of theB2B collaborative industrial internet e-commerce marketplaceinfrastructure can verify the B2B user so that the B2B user can securelysubmit transactions, access and/or update the ledger, etc. As a result,the B2B collaborative industrial internet e-commerce marketplaceinfrastructure authenticates and validates the trustworthiness of agiven B2B user.

Returning to FIG. 9, the digital business management system 130implements the token acceptance process using collaborative trust 903.Steps included in embodiments of the token acceptance process usingcollaborative trust 903 is shown in FIG. 8, wherein step 808 includesrequesting a token, step 809 includes provisioning a token, and step 810includes pushing a token. Using the eSE, the digital business managementsystem application 209 submits a transaction payment signed withsecurity token. See step 811 of FIG. 8. This step is similar to steps 3and 4 of FIG. 7 of using a trust token (e.g., security token) withoutPII data; and pushing the payment token from the token vault. The tokenvault stores payment tokens.

Returning to FIG. 8, step 812 includes processing the transaction usingblockchain. For example, the digital business management system 130 addsan entry to the blockchain ledger for the transaction payment submissionsigned with the security token. To prevent modification of theblockchain ledger entry, the digital business management system 130 mayrequire a cryptographic hash of the previous block combined with thecurrent block to prevent changes to the blockchain ledger.

In step 813, the block is a record that confirms that the transactionhas been paid (e.g., the transaction payment is stored as part of theblockchain). These steps are similarly shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9, theeSE chip is verified as depicted in step 904. The payment token ispresented and signed by the digital business management system mApp asdepicted in step 905.

FIG. 10 schematically shows an exemplary B2B wallet in an mAppenvironment and the various condition purchase offers (cPos) definingthe combination of restrictions for which the digital businessmanagement system 130 accepts payment. Example cPos depicted in FIG. 10include proximity payment 1001 representing a payment protocol formobile payments over proximity wireless network Bluetooth low energy(BLE). Also, a variety of other Near Field Communication (NFC)contactless purchase offers (PoS) 1002 techniques may be used todetermine the presence of the user computing entity 110A.

In some embodiments, the B2B wallet utilizes a blockchain secured tokenpayment structure. By issuing blockchain secured payment tokens, thedigital business management system 130 helps B2B users remove costs andfriction when using the iCommerce system. For example, payment tokensmay be used to facilitate transactions on the iCommerce system. The B2Bcollaborative industrial internet e-commerce marketplace infrastructureis further configured to enable users to exchange payment tokens forfiat currency (e.g., after completion of a transaction).

E. Exemplary Data Flow for Generating a Ledger Entry for a Transaction

Referring now to FIG. 11, the process 1100 illustrates exampleoperations performed by the digital business management system 130 forgenerating a ledger entry for a transaction and storing the ledger entryto the ledger database 150. The example process 1100 starts at step1101, where the digital business management system 130 receives atransaction data object from the external commerce channel 120A. In someembodiments, the transaction data object refers to a data structure or adataset received from the external commerce channel 120A to the digitalbusiness management system 130 for representing a product transactionevent (e.g., buying, selling, trading redeeming, etc.). The transactiondata object comprises a product identifier and metadata tags. In someembodiments, the external commerce channel operates on a compiled codebase or repository that is separate and distinct from that whichsupports the digital business management system 130.

The digital business management system 130 generates an immutable ledgerentry based at least in part on the transaction data object as shown instep 1102. In this case, the transaction data object includes anidentifier of the transaction (e.g., product identifier, accountidentifier, etc.). The identifier is a unique identifier sent in thetransaction event and attributed to the transaction event. The digitalbusiness management system 130 records details of the transaction as animmutable ledger entry (e.g., block of the blockchain). In an exampleembodiment, the digital business management system 130 providesblockchain security and ledger services that provides encryption ofrecords, with different blockchain identity keys that allow blockchainhashing and verification. Data may not be viewable without a blockchainidentity key. In step 1103, the digital business management system 130parses the transaction data object to identify one or more metadata tagsfor storage in association with the transaction event. In an exampleembodiment, the digital business management system 130 can standardizethe transaction data object into a format recognizable and/or compatiblewith a data object profile of the digital business management system130.

In some embodiments, the digital business management system 130 isconfigured to provide an API usable by the external commerce channel120A to provide data (e.g., product updates) that may be stored withinthe ledger. Such updates are provided as transaction data objects, whichmay be provided immediately in response to some change (e.g., purchaseorder is created in the external commerce channel 120A) or batched andprovided at defined intervals (e.g., hourly, nightly, etc.). Theseupdates are identified by their associated transaction data objectidentifier.

The digital business management system 130 is then configured to parsethe transaction data object to identify one or more metadata tags forstorage in association with a transaction event. For example, themetadata tags may comprise inventory information, order information,order date and time information, buyer information, or one or morepredefined metadata fields. In step 1104, the digital businessmanagement system 130 identifies a match between the one or moremetadata tags received from the external commerce channel and one ormore master metadata tags stored in the ledger and associated with anobject profile. The one or more master metadata tags refers to a set ofmaster metadata records that represent a most accurate and complete setof metadata for a particular product represented within stored dataobjects within the digital business management system 130. The one ormore master metadata tags may be stored in the ledger database 150 andmay be accessible by the digital business management system 130.

In step 1105, the digital business management system 130 is configuredto update the object profile associated with the one or more mastermetadata tags at least in part by associating the immutable ledger entrywith the object profile. In some embodiments, the object profile refersto information associated with a particular product, including forexample, an object profile identifier, one or more businesses/B2B userswith which the object profile is managed/owned, one or morebusinesses/B2B users with which the object profile has been grantedaccess to, and the like.

In step 1106, the digital business management system 130 is configuredto update a portion of the omni-channel interface 1106 based at least inpart on the updated object profile. The portion of the omni-channelinterface 1106 is a product-specific portion. For example, theomni-channel interface 1106 may be updated to display an accurateinventory account, a new promotion, the transaction event associatedwith the transaction object, and the like. FIG. 13 shows an exampleomni-channel interface comprising a product overview of a particularproduct. FIG. 14 shows another example omni-channel interface comprisinga detailed view of all the products managed by a business. Inparticular, FIG. 14 displays detailed information on all active ordersand active customers, as well as total sales for the month andadvertisement spend.

In some embodiments, there is an omni-channel interface for each andevery product such that the digital business management system 130updates the product-specific omni channel interface based on the updateddata object profile. The updates are reflective of transaction eventsoccurring via any of a variety of the external commerce channels121A-121N. In an example embodiment, the updates may be indicative ofthe specific external commerce channel that the update came from (e.g.,transaction X occurred via eBay™). In an example embodiment, when theuser navigates to the advertisement spend section of FIG. 14, thedigital business management system 130 may be configured to provide amore detailed overview of the advertisement spend as shown by FIG. 15.FIG. 15 displays not only advertisement spend but also customer activitysuch as impressions (e.g., advertisement view) and advertisement clicks.

The digital business management system 130 may further be configured toprovide, among other things, the following: real-time analytics ofsales; a competitive analysis of comparable B2B users; an online productcatalog; marketing of products; a mobile app platform or other webinterface to enable B2B users to upload, update, promote, and storeproduct information; a pre-paid token payment structure; andcomprehensive transaction and artifact history.

F. Exemplary Data Flow for Generating a Loan Business Plan

Referring now to FIG. 16, the process 1600 illustrates exampleoperations performed by the digital business management system 130 forgenerating a loan business plan. The example process 1600 starts at step1601, where the digital business management system 130 receives a loanbusiness plan request from the user computing entity 110A. In step 1602,the digital business management system 130 confirms PII of the user ofthe user computing entity 110A. For example, the digital businessmanagement system 130 launches an authentication process as discussed inreference to FIG. 8 to verify the identity of the user (e.g., loanrequester or persons acting on behalf of the loan requester).

Once the user is verified, the digital business management system 130executes a creditworthiness check as shown in step 1603. Executing acreditworthiness check comprises compiling transaction data from theledger database 150 associated with the loan requester and transmittingthe compiled transaction data to a financial service 801, which may beconfigured to perform financial analyses based at least in part on theretrieved transaction data. For example, the digital business managementsystem 130 may be configured to query the ledger database 150 based onrelevant identifier data to identify representative transactions havingmetadata matching the relevant identifier data. In response to thequery, the digital business management system 130 may receive datarelevant to the described transactions.

However, it should be understood that the financial analyses may beperformed via one or more machine learning models, which may be trainedwith a training data set comprising historical data indicative ofvarious transaction data as well as financial results of providing aloan to individuals associated with the transaction data. The output ofthe resulting machine-learning model may be a score indicative of adetermined creditworthiness of a particular individual, and this scoremay be correlated (e.g., through a rule-based engine) to one or moreloan term packages (e.g., each loan term package encompassing dataindicative of terms for approval of loans, such as a loan interest rate,a maximum loan amount, a required loan collateral amount, and/or thelike), such that particular score ranges may be correlated withdifferent loan term packages. As depicted in step 1604, the digitalbusiness management system 130 submits a loan business plan applicationto the financial service 801. In response, the financial service 801approves or declines the application as shown in step 1605. If theapplication is approved, the digital business management system 130generates a loan business plan as shown in step 1606. The loan businessplan is based on the user's creditworthiness as determined by thetransaction data from the ledger database 150. In step 1607, the digitalbusiness management system 130 may be configured to facilitateestablishment of the loan business plan. For example, the digitalbusiness management system 130 may generate alerts or notifications whenpayments are due and/or when credits are issued.

V. CONCLUSION

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseinventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of this description. Althoughspecific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic anddescriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

1. A digital business management system comprising a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium defining a ledger and one or moreprocessors, the digital business management system configured to:receive, at a hub and via a communication application program interface,a transaction data object generated as a part of a transaction eventexecuted via an external commerce channel of one or more externalcommerce channels to be posted to the ledger, wherein the transactiondata object comprises one or more metadata tags classifying thetransaction event; generate an immutable ledger entry based at least inpart on the transaction data object; parse the transaction data objectto identify the one or more metadata tags for storage in associationwith the transaction event; identify a match between the one or moremetadata tags received from the external commerce channel and one ormore master metadata tags stored in the ledger and associated with adata object profile; and update the data object profile associated withthe one or more master metadata tags at least in part by associating theimmutable ledger entry with the data object profile.
 2. The digitalbusiness management system of claim 1, wherein the digital businessmanagement system configured to: standardize the transaction data objectinto a format compatible with the data object profile.
 3. The digitalbusiness management system of claim 1, wherein the digital businessmanagement system configured to: subscribe to the communicationapplication program interface of the external commerce channel toreceive transaction data object updates.
 4. The digital businessmanagement system of claim 1, wherein the one or more metadata tagscomprise product inventory information, product order information, orderdate and time information, or buyer information.
 5. The digital businessmanagement system of claim 1, wherein the data object profile comprisesan object profile identifier, one or more businesses with which theobject profile is owned by, or one or more businesses with which theobject profile has been granted access to.
 6. The digital businessmanagement system of claim 1, wherein the digital business managementsystem configured to: update an omni-channel graphical user interfacebased on the updated data object profile.
 7. The digital businessmanagement system of claim 1, wherein the external commerce channeloperates on a compiled code base or repository that is separate anddistinct from that which supports the digital business managementsystem.
 8. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, at a huband via a communication application program interface, a transactiondata object generated as a part of a transaction event executed via anexternal commerce channel of one or more external commerce channels tobe posted to a ledger, wherein the transaction data object comprises oneor more metadata tags classifying the transaction event; generating animmutable ledger entry based at least in part on the transaction dataobject; parsing the transaction data object to identify the one or moremetadata tags for storage in association with the transaction event;identifying a match between the one or more metadata tags received fromthe external commerce channel and one or more master metadata tagsstored in the ledger and associated with a data object profile; andupdating the data object profile associated with the one or more mastermetadata tags at least in part by associating the immutable ledger entrywith the data object profile.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 8, further comprising: standardizing the transaction data objectinto a format compatible with the data object profile.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising: subscribingto the communication application program interface of the externalcommerce channel to receive transaction data object updates.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the one or more metadatatags comprise product inventory information, product order information,order date and time information, or buyer information.
 12. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the data object profilecomprises an object profile identifier, one or more businesses withwhich the object profile is owned by, or one or more businesses withwhich the object profile has been granted access to.
 13. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising: updating anomni-channel graphical user interface based on the updated data objectprofile.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein theexternal commerce channel operates on a compiled code base or repositorythat is separate and distinct from that which supports the digitalbusiness management system.
 15. A computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer readable medium having computer programinstructions stored therein, the computer program instructions whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to: receive, at a hub andvia a communication application program interface, a transaction dataobject generated as a part of a transaction event executed via anexternal commerce channel of one or more external commerce channels tobe posted to a ledger, wherein the transaction data object comprises oneor more metadata tags classifying the transaction event; generate animmutable ledger entry based at least in part on the transaction dataobject; parse the transaction data object to identify the one or moremetadata tags for storage in association with the transaction event;identify a match between the one or more metadata tags received from theexternal commerce channel and one or more master metadata tags stored inthe ledger and associated with a data object profile; and update thedata object profile associated with the one or more master metadata tagsat least in part by associating the immutable ledger entry with the dataobject profile.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, whereinthe computer program instructions when executed by a processor, furthercause the processor to: standardize the transaction data object into aformat compatible with the data object profile.
 17. The computer programproduct of claim 15, wherein the computer program instructions whenexecuted by a processor, further cause the processor to: subscribe tothe communication application program interface of the external commercechannel to receive transaction data object updates.
 18. The computerprogram product of claim 15, wherein the one or more metadata tagscomprise product inventory information, product order information, orderdate and time information, or buyer information.
 19. The computerprogram product of claim 15, wherein the data object profile comprisesan object profile identifier, one or more businesses with which theobject profile is owned by, or one or more businesses with which theobject profile has been granted access to.
 20. The computer programproduct of claim 15, wherein the computer program instructions whenexecuted by a processor, further cause the processor to: update anomni-channel graphical user interface based on the updated data objectprofile.